It had been a rather difficult night. Starting out on the right foot, it quickly degenerated into a crying fest. Little Nate had woken up in a bad mood, and Mavis had had a bad time trying to appease the baby. Not even Claire was able to help taming the wild vampire baby, and Mavis had to ask her own dad for help.

"Ah, yes. Believe it or not, you were like this sometimes, my Mavy" he fondly said, taking the crying infant from his daughter's arms. The vampiress sighed softly, the bags under her eyes having become more notorious in the last five months, and her hair had become quite messy since she had decided to focus on raising her kid rather than fixing her own image. Her father used his magic to bring a seat closer to her which she gladly accepted. Her eyes went wide when she saw her father tossing her baby up in the air. It wasn't too high, and the kid had calmed down and was now amused, but the girl swiftly took him away, making her father smirk a bit.

"What were you doing dad?!" she asked, making sure Nathan wasn't hurt in anyway. Far from it. The baby had stopped giggling, but now he wanted some more and reached towards his vampa, who took him back from his reluctant daughter.

"It's ok, Mavy, I already did this, remember? Vampire babies need activity and thrill, isn't that true little Nate?" he cooed, and the baby babbled, probably agreeing.

"Just… be careful, please" she said, sitting back and closing her eyes in exhaustion.

"How do you feel, my blood orange?" he asked, now just holding the baby with one arm, placing the other on his daughter's shoulder.

"I'm ok, dad. I'm just tired. Haven't slept well in the last months. It's been… hard."

"I know, Mavy. Don't you think you deserve a night to yourself? You can leave Nate with us, you know we'll take good care of him. You aunts are still here; I'm sure Eunice would love to spoil you a bit…"

"No, dad, I have to…"

"Mavis…" he interrupted, making her look up to him, "I know you still feel guilty about a lot of things, but what you are doing right now is going to make you sick on the long run. Your son needs you healthy both physically and mentally, don't do this to him and yourself. You have a right to time for yourself every now and then"

Mavis was torn between doing what her father told her and her feeling of guilt. In the end, maybe having a day to herself wasn't such a bad idea. Her father ushered her out and told her to clean herself up a little bit, while he would go and tell Eunice to plan some activities for her. Mavis smiled after the door shut behind her, deciding to play along and just take a day off to herself.

It had been two hours since Mavis' visit to his room, and now Dracula wasn't as calm as he had been then. Johnathan was back in the Hotel, and Mavis was going to be around the place looking better than she had in the last months. While he knew that they were aware of their own emotional states, the fact is that they were still zings, and they were young (Mavis more so). They could decide to keep their distance just as easily as they could end up giving up to their deepest desires. He didn't want to think of that possibility, but he knew young people pretty well, and however thin the possibility, it existed.

And he wouldn't do anything about it.

He had already messed up badly the last time he tried to socially engineer his daughter's life, and this was all a consequence of that still. He had to let nature run its course, and as such, he would take care of his grandson and youngest daughter. Mavis' life was hers to control, and she would have to make her own decisions.

He had settled into the room the Count had assigned to him, which wasn't exactly hard. He only brought along what he could carry easily on his trek, so the time he didn't spend unpacking he had to spend thinking about what he was doing. For a second time, he had no idea how to go about his plan. How to properly approach Mavis, now that he could remember her? She had moved on with her life, had a son, and had just lost her husband. While he didn't know about the way she was doing recently, he could imagine that him just arriving and demanding her to see him would come across as a douche move, and that was completely the opposite of what he wanted. He was beating his brain around as much as he could, but he couldn't come up with a way to go around the problem.

By inertia, he stood up and got out of the room, expecting a calm stroll to help him make up his mind. Or his bravery.

"I'm telling you, Mavis, you need a haircut, those split tips will take too much to fix otherwise! Besides, we could change your style a little bit, don't you think?" Eunice, in her usual shrilly voice, suggested to the vampire girl.

Mavis grabbed her bangs instinctively, "I-I'm not sure that's a good idea, auntie Eunice…"

"Come on, Mavis. You could use some changes in your life. Maybe start with a small one?" Claire answered, putting her hands on her shoulders to steady herself. Mavis wasn't too thrilled about the idea, but after thinking it a bit she reluctantly agreed to it. Eunice had landed the women of the family in the Hotel's spa and care wing, where they had decided to first make a stop to get some new hairdos. A silent agreement was made in which Mavis would be the priority. The months of recovery and then then mopping around had taken their toll on her image, and although it wasn't anywhere near as bad as the last time they saw her depressed, it still wasn't nice for them to see her in shambles. The stylist, a monster with multiple limbs that could be classified as an octo-blob, was quick, but it felt like ages to Mavis, who could just sit and hope for the best. When Harry (the stylist) was done, every one of the women was in awe, making her feel slightly nervous.

"S-o?" she nearly mumbled, expecting an answer.

Harry presented her with a small mirror, and Mavis wasted no time looking herself on it. At first she could just stare in awe at her reflection, but she was able to make just one sound while bringing her hand to her mouth. Oh.

Her hair had been cut short back to its old length, but not completely. The hair near her scalp remained long, and was now tied into an elegant bun that she had no idea could look this good on her. The surviving bangs to the front framed her face neatly, and even with the bags on her eyes and the lightly-bloodshot eyes she looked positively glowing. She was ecstatic, to say the least. When they all composed after the surprise of it, the women celebrated their choice, now taking Dracula's daughter through a course that she had forgotten even existed: steam room, aromatherapy, massage, facial treatments… it seemed to them like the night wore-on far too fast. By the time the sun was about two hours away from coming up the mountains, the group was more than relaxed and was now having fun. The women laughed and joked, and Mavis could finally pretend that she hadn't gone through a hellish nightmare throughout the last months. It almost seemed like life had returned to normal.

But it hadn't.

Mavis found herself hyperventilating all of the sudden, and feeling anxious for no reason.

"Mavis? Are you ok, honey?" Wanda asked, quickly picking up that something wasn't right with her.

"I'm… I'm ok… I just… give me a second, please…" the vampiress was out of there in a heartbeat, leaving the others perplexed. After reaching the nearly-depopulated lobby, she finally was able to catch a deep breath and steady herself.

Panic attack. She automatically thought. One of the things he had learned about her late husband. She would panic herself the first few times she had witnessed him suffering one, and quickly learned how to identify one. She would never dare to wonder how it felt to have one, and here she was. The memory of her late husband destroyed her mood, and instead decided to call it a night and go to her room, not before picking up her son. When she knocked on her father's room no one answered, so maybe he had gone out?

Johnathan leaned on the stone bridge that connected the Hotel with the mainland. He had purposely spent the whole night out the Hotel, to eliminate the possibility of running into Mavis by accident. He had seen some beautiful sights in the forest, but he had barely paid them any attention, his head completely wrapped around the matter at hand. He hadn't come up with anything to even remotely address the problem, not for lack of trying. He had been thinking so much that he never heard Count Dracula approach him, a double-stroller coming along with him. When he realized he had company, Johnathan turned to see both babies, who looked extremely happy, unaware of anything that their older peers were going through.

"Still thinking about it?" Dracula asked, looking concerned, although about who or what, Johnny could not know.

"Yeah, I can't think of a way to not come across as a douchebag…" Johnathan stopped, carefully choosing his next words, "I thought… Mavis only… had one kid..."

"She does. The baby girl is Mavis' baby sister" the vampire answered, a hint of pride creeping into his voice.

"Congratulations. Can I… you know?"

Dracula seemed to ponder the idea for a second before nodding in acceptance. Johnathan gently picked up the baby girl, while distracting Nate with funny faces so he didn't fuzz about being left on his own. The baby girl looked at him with wide, adorable eyes, and it seemed like she was really liking him. Until…

"Oh, oh…" Johnathan barely avoided the white-colored puke that came off her mouth. Lilith seemed thrilled enough about it, even giggling at Johnathan's grossed-out face, "she apparently doesn't like me".

"If that was the case, she would cry..."

Mavis had asked one of the knights the whereabouts of his father, and they had led her outside the Hotel. While still collecting herself after the panic attack, she wasn't aware that the distant figure that looked like her father was accompanied by someone else, until she was at the proper distance to make out who the other figure was. If she had not been completely panicked before, she was now.

Johnathan

In his distracted state after the puke attack, Johnathan never saw or heard her, but her father did. Before he could completely turn, she misted herself out of the place and locked herself in her room.

She had thought about what she would do when this day came. Would she cower in fear? Would she snap at him and say everything she wanted to say? Would she remain speechless? Well, now she knew the answer. She was afraid. She was afraid of what he could (rightfully) say about her, about not being able to say what she wanted to say… about not having the courage to admit that, just maybe, she still felt something for him.

Was it love? Probably not, it had been too long, and they met for too little time. There was no way to love someone under those conditions. But a Zing is a powerful thing, and when two people share one, there's no way to just ignore it and move on. And in this case? It was even more problematic. She had moved on from her heartbreak, she had met, loved, and even married to another man. She had a son with him, for ghoul's sake! His passing only aggravated the situation, and she never thought she would be in a position where she would get to experience being a widow while accepting the fact she may still feel something for a guy that literally walked out of her life…

It was all overwhelming to Mavis. Why couldn't it be easier? Why couldn't life just give her a fucking break?

There was one time when she had been free, where she had felt in control for once… when she had tried to end it all. When she had been drunk. She had sneaked in a bottle a long time ago, but never, ever, taken even a sip from it. But now she wanted to. She wanted to do it more than ever. No one could blame her. Not according to her own logic.

Johnathan noticed the sun was nearly coming out and he expected everyone to be ready to go to sleep. He didn't expect to be picked up by the neck of his shirt and spun around, then to be tossed backwards to land face-up and stunned by the suddenness of the attack. Towering above him, he saw a face that he had waited months to see again. But before he could even say anything, he was grabbed and taken to another familiar place: the Hotel's roof.

Was she in control? Probably not, but she was doing what she had wanted to do in this situation.

"M-mavis?"

"Shut up! Just… shut up" her speech was slurred, and the smell of alcohol was all-to-familiar to Johnathan Was Mavis drunk?

"Mavis?! Are you…"

"I said shut up!" she nearly shouted, not looking at him, "I just… I can't…"

Was it possible to honestly cry while drunk? Then again, she felt like she was in control, so maybe she was being honest.

"You... you left. And you said those things… And then… Dad tried… he really tried… and I was mad at him, at Claire. At you…" her eyes flashed red for a moment, and Johnathan was really afraid for his life for a second, "I thought I was right to hate everyone. I left…at first I wanted to look for you, but the world is big, and I was… I was… I was naïve, like a fucking little girl. I gave up after the first month, just decided to go wherever I wanted, wherever I could fly myself to… but I always felt empty, alone. I missed my dad, Claire…and I missed you. I was vulnerable, anyone could have… anyone could have taken advantage of me, could have made me do terrible things… But then I met him… he literally saved me the first time we met, he was charming," Johnathan had gone stiff, he was basically listening to his Zing confess having loved someone else, "and he made me feel like I hadn't for a year… it wasn't… perfect, but he cared… that's why I said yes to marrying him. Little Nate was a surprise; I wasn't sure he would want to go ahead with the wedding… I was scared again, even when I had finally regained my family and friends. He was stand-up guy about it… and I thought that… just maybe… I could finally have a normal life… but then a religious freak comes along and... and all of this happens. And then you come back, and I don't know what to do! I feel like I'm betraying my dead husband, like I… like I'm just looking for someone to love me. Like I'm an attention whore or something! Why? Why is my life so complicated?! Why- why can't I just say that I still feel something for you? Is it wrong? Because I feel it's wrong, at times! Like I'm... like I'm… I don't know what I am…"

She broke into tears, then and there. Apparently, she was the "honest" kind of alcoholic. She buried her head in shame on her legs, which she had hugged closer as soon as she sat on the roof. Johnny could barely begin to process everything that she had said. Now he could understand what she meant when she had told him that he'd ruined her life. He had left, and the result of that decision had forced her to go through all this. And now he expected her to come back to him… it was an idiotic notion.

He got closer to her, not knowing what to do, and at a loss for words. He was pulled into a tight hug that nearly broke all of his ribs. He could wince all he wanted, the iron grip only loosened when the alcohol finally began to kick in full force and Mavis just lay still against him. So what, vampire metabolism also made them get drunk faster? He now had a drunk vampire in his arms and questions in his head. And hope that Dracula wasn't ready to rip him appart.

So, the next chapter will probably be the last one, and then an epilogue. I hope this story has been living up to your expectations. As usual, please leave a Review, I really appreaciate them. See you next update.